Brenalwood is a residential dementia care home situated in the traditional seaside town of Walton on the Naze. Just a stone’s throw from the beach and the promenade and within walking distance of the historic Naze tower.

Our home has a warm family like atmosphere which has been likened to ‘walking into a big hug’ by a family member. The family atmosphere is generated by our very special team who are dedicated to delivering care with kindness and respect every single day. We are committed to supporting, embracing and empowering all our residents living with dementia as well as their relatives.

We provide a person centred activity programme to cater for all of our resident’s needs. We try to create moments of joy for our residents throughout the day.

We have a our own replica pub the Brenalwood arms where the residents can watch sport, play darts or a board game while having a pint or a glass of wine.

Animals play such a big part in the home, we have a small flock of chickens , rabbits and a fish pond in the garden. Inside the home we have our pet budgie and we also have goldfish in their tank. Once a year at our open day we have a petting farm which is extremely popular with residents, visitors and staff alike.

We have strong links with the community. We participate in local run activities including the carnival and the flower festival at the parish church. Some of our residents attend the local churches regularly and we also arrange for communion for our residents who are unable to attend church to take place in the home. The parish church also attends the home monthly to hold a small hymn service.

We provide day care, respite care and Long term care for residential and dementia clients

Accomodation

Residents may bring:

Own furniture Own decoration

Rooms have:

Phone point TV point

Number of lounges or seating areas:

2

Building type:

Conversion

Lifts:

Full lift

Wheelchair access:

To all floors

Outdoors:

Secure garden Seating area

Weekly cost:

Accept local authority rates Accept Continuing Care funding

Personal care cost from:

£600

Lifestyle

Pets:

Pets accepted Home has a pet

Decision making:

Residents’ committee

Daily routines are:

Fully Flexible

Meals:

Meals are Flexible Meals can be taken in own room There is a choice of menu Residents assist in planning meals Meals are prepared in the home Snacks are available at any time Vegetarians are catered for Special diets are accommodated for

Family and friends:

Can usually accommodate visitors Visitors welcome at any time

Type of service

Culture & Religion

Special requirements addressed?:

Religious Dietary Language

Languages spoken:

English, Polish, Thai, Tagalog

Activities

Available activities:

Entertainment in the home Regular activities programme Involvement in gardening Outings Facilities for hobbies

OverallGood

Last updated 17 September 2016
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 16 February 2016 and was unannounced. The inspection team consisted of two inspectors.

We reviewed all the information we had available about the service including notifications sent to us by the provider. This is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We also looked at information we received from others, including the local authority. We used this information to plan what areas we were going to focus on during our inspection.

During the inspection we spoke with seven people who used the service, three visitors, one social care professional and one health professional about their views of the care provided. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We also used informal observations to evaluate peopleâs experiences and help us assess how their needs were being met and we observed how staff interacted with people. We spoke with the registered manager, one senior care staff, two care staff and one catering staff. We also spoke with one health care professional and one social care professional.

We looked at six peopleâs care records and examined information relating to the management of the service such as health and safety records, recruitment and personnel records, staff rotas, quality monitoring audits and information about complaints. We also examined questionnaires that had been completed by relatives and visitors as part of the providerâs quality assurance processes.

About us

Inspection checks

These checks were carried out under the inspection model that CQC have used since 2009. These will gradually be replaced by the CQC's new ratings (see below).

All standards were being met when the CQC inspected the service. If this service has not had a CQC inspection since it registered with the CQC, judgement may be based on the CQC's assessment of declarations and evidence supplied by the service.

At least one standard in this area was not being met when the CQC inspected the service and the CQC required improvements.

At least one standard in this area was not being met when the CQC inspected the service and the CQC have taken enforcement action.

New inspection ratings

The CQC are moving to a new inspection model and rate services according to how safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led they are, using four levels:

Outstanding – the service is performing exceptionally well.

Good - the service is performing well and meeting the CQC's expectations.

Requires improvement – the service isn't performing as well as it should and the CQC have told the service how it must improve.

Inadequate – the service is performing badly and the CQC have taken enforcement action against the provider of the service.

No rating/under appeal/rating suspended – there are some services which the CQC can't rate, while some might be under appeal from the provider. Suspended ratings are being reviewed by the CQC and will be published soon.